Sometime suitcases may be made from crocodile skin, but a Qantas Airways baggage handler got a huge surprise when he discovered a real live crocodile loose in the cargo area of the plane when it landed.
The animal escaped from its cage on a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne in Australia. It was roaming around the cargo hold until the baggage handlers spotted it. The crocodile wasn't full grown.
The crocodile was captured quickly and safely and there were no further problems.
The croc broke free from its cage and roamed the plane's cargo hold during the flight from Brisbane to Melbourne until unsuspecting baggage handlers discovered the reptile when unloading the luggage upon landing.
The crocodile was in a plastic container and was able to shatter a part of it.
The airline is now investigating how the animal could have escaped its cage.
"The animal was quickly and safely secured when the aircraft arrived in Melbourne," a Qantas spokesman said in a statement.
"The investigation is focusing on whether it had been loaded appropriately on delivery to Australian air Express."
This isn't the first time a creature has been discovered on a Qantas flight. In June, a plane was grounded after flight attendants found a nest of baby rats in the cabin of the aircraft.
This also isn't the first time that a reptile was discovered on a flight. Two Air Force MiG-21 fighter jets in India had to be grounded due to snakes.
On one of the flights, a pilot noticed a snake go past him in the cockpit. Mechanics had to dismantle the jet to try to locate it. After a 12-hour investigation at an airbase in the northeast, officials found that it was a non-venomous rate snake.
The other plane was grounded when crew members saw a snake wrapped around the plane's undercarriage. The snake could have potentially caused injury to the pilot and even the plane.
"Quite apart from the risk to the pilot, if the snake had bitten or punctured any of the linings such as oxygen or fuel systems or pulled out any electrical connections, it could have resulted in a serious emergency," the Air Force report states, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
Air Force members joked that the air bases should have snake charmers. Their request was denied.
"It is not enough. We want every airfield to have its own snake charmer on the base. We're risking our lives," one man told the Daily Mail.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
